Review: Twice Shy by Patrick Freivald

Ohneka Falls is a small, Western New York town where everyone knows everyone and nothing of note happens. Ani Romero is a sixteen-year-old girl who wants to play sports, hang out, and kiss Mike, her middle-school crush. A childhood carrier of the zombie virus, she died at fourteen but didn’t become a mindless, brain-eating monster. Her controlling mother forces her to join the emo crowd to hide her condition behind a wall of black clothes and makeup, and her friends abandon her.

When creeper Dylan learns her secret, he falls into obsession, with Ani and with death. She bites him in self-defense. Persecuted by the jocks and ignored by Mike, Ani struggles through the motions of life hoping her mother’s research unveils a cure, or Dylan dooms them all to a hungry, walking death.

As her emo facade crumbles in the face of jealousy and obsession, Ani knows that the worst thing she can do is be true to herself.

This was definitely a unique and interesting story, to say the least! I'm a huge fan of zombies, so naturally when I read the description for this book I knew I had to read it. The main character, Ani, is a zombie; but for the most part she's a functioning zombie. Although she does have strong cravings for brains sometimes, she is able to suppress her true nature by taking injections of a serum her mother (who is a doctor) created to keep the hunger at bay. No one knows that she is the walking dead. She would be killed if anyone found out, because the Zombie Virus is serious business and can spread very quickly.

I really felt for Ani. She's forced to live a pretty lonely existence out of fear that she will be discovered. Her mother makes her dress like a goth girl so that it's not so obvious that she's literally pale as death--because, well, she is dead. Her goth "friends" aren't very good friends most of the time, and Ani can't truly get close to anyone because of the possibility of harming them. What a bummer, huh? But that doesn't stop her from having a crush on her childhood friend, Mike, who is dating the popular girl in school. Ani may be a zombie, but she is still a teenager with your typical amount of teenage angst!

I'm not sure how I feel about Ani and Mike. Their love is forbidden because of what Ani is, but I don't really think he's a good fit for her anyway. To me, he sort of symbolizes what might have been, if Ani hadn't turned into a zombie. Mike had his redeeming moments when he was there for her and stuck up for her at times when she was bullied, but for the most part his actions were very hot and cold. It was obvious that he cared for her but there were too many times when he chose his heinous girlfriend over Ani. I also couldn't help but be a little peeved at Ani for being way too forgiving of Mike because sometimes he really didn't treat her well.

There were some disturbing and interesting things that occurred throughout the book that definitely added some excitement to the story. The ending of the book really had me a little perplexed, but also amused. I would have liked to have had a little more to go on, because it seemed to have ended too abruptly, but overall I'm okay with it. Actually, I guess if I really think about it, the ending seems pretty darn fitting!

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